Watchful
by Elfin Maid
Summary: He was always there, watching and waiting. He tried so hard to protect her, but in the end the one thing he could not save her from was herself. [One-shot.]


**This is the oneshot I wrote when I was bored, and although in the beginning it was a Creepy!Stalker Legolas fic, I changed it to more of an angsty one. (Thank you, Starship T.A.R.D.I.S, for the idea!)**

**A quick warning: This is a tearjerker, and it contains references to DoS and BotFA. Forgive me if any quotes or events are wrong, as I said, this was a complete whim. :)**

**And if you don't like Legriel fics, why are you still here? :p**

**Enjoy!**

**Elfin Maid**

* * *

The first time he saw her, it had been unexpected. She had turned those huge, haunted green eyes on him as she passed, a silent question passing between them. Legolas had flinched backward, shocked.

He had never seen an elf with eyes of that color.

* * *

After that, it had not been his choice.

"You will watch over her," his _Ada_ had rumbled, "and you will give your life to keep her alive. I made a promise, and it shall be kept."

Again, he had wondered.

Wondered who she was.

Wondered why she was there.

Wished that he knew her better.

* * *

As the years slipped by, he was still there, watching. And now, waiting.

Waiting for the day she would recognize him, waiting for a small ember of hope to grow into a flame.

He learned her name-Tauriel. And he learned about her past.

Dared to dream of the future.

* * *

Thranduil said that she was ready.

And so Legolas reminded him of his promise, made centuries ago.

"You know she is not," he had said. "Can't you feel it?"

But Thranduil, set in his ways for so long there was no turning back, said that he would proceed.

And so Tauriel, the elf with the green eyes and flaming locks of hair, was granted more power than they both knew an elf so young should carry.

It was a mistake.

They both knew that.

And Thranduil sat in his stone walls and tried to ease his burning guilt.

It did not work.

* * *

Handed her greatest wish, Tauriel grew ever stronger.

Her will, a flame leaping high in the midst of darkness, tried to make them realize that this was not to be.

She needed freedom.

* * *

And still, he watched. Waiting.

Always waiting.

* * *

Lord Elrond sent word of dwarves, seeking the Lonely Mountain. Legolas sat there, worry gnawing at his mind.

His father would not listen.

But she would.

They became friends. Slowly, but friends all the less.

The ember grew into a flickering flame, weak and easily blown out.

It would last for just a precious few weeks.

* * *

She left.

He felt as if his heart had been ripped from his chest.

And so he followed her, as he had been doing for the past few centuries.

Always, always following.

* * *

"Come back with me," he said. "He will forgive you."

And she turned, with those green eyes he had loved from the very start, and said, "But I will not forgive myself."

He feared for her.

But he kept his promise - oh, yes. Even after all that time, he followed.

He loved her.

But it was not to be.

* * *

She greeted his father with a nocked arrow, slid into place and pulled to a full draw in but an instant.

Thranduil was furious.

But Legolas knew - and indeed, perhaps even his father knew as well - that he had only himself to blame.

Only himself.

* * *

The last time he would see her for a century was when she was crying.

Crying over the body of a dwarf.

That day, Legolas swore that he would walk his path in life as she would have done.

Following in her footsteps, as he had always done.

* * *

War came and went, yet again. Legolas could find no peace.

She was there, haunting him, tainting his very dreams.

He would see her sometimes, a flicker of red hair as he walked the wood, the ghost of a laugh, the sound echoing in his ears for hours.

A dream came to him, or perhaps it was more of a vision.

She was there.

"Make your own path in life," she said. "You no longer need to follow me. You have kept your promise." And she leaned close and brushed her lips against his, soft and warm, their one and only kiss.

He wept.

He had tried so hard to protect her, followed her for so many years. He had kept his promise the best he could, but in the end the one thing he could not save her from was herself.

But now, he walked a different path.

And yet, it was the same.

He would always love her.

And she would always be there, if only in his dreams.


End file.
